Low watt amps...

[gndboy]

Hi - My name is gndboy and I am a gearhead. Gotta agree with the above. When the gigs are thick, I'm really happy with my stuff (if I even think about it at all), but when there is down time, I get cranky with my gear and almost always wind up doing something stupid (not the Nancy/Frank Sinatra tune).

[Commodore 64***]

I suck. Therefore I churn gear.

[NWBasser]

I think I'm coming to that conclusion too. GAS is all fine and good, but what am I playing? I've thought about this a lot after I was chasing that Rhoads and now seeing the Blackstar. The Rhoads would have looked cool, but wouldn't have been better than the guitar I'd be losing. I'm driving myself nuts trying to find the distortion tone in my head instead of just playing. Maybe the Blackstar would be a solution to that, or maybe it'd just end up another way to spend money.

Marnold, I recently played a Blackstar HT-5 head and 10-inch cab. I think that you and I have similar tone tastes for thick n' rich rockin' overdrive.

With that in mind, DON'T try a Blackstar unless you go in with a heavy wallet!

I nearly had to be pried away from it by the GC sales staff.

Of course, I can say the same for the Tweaker.

[deeaa*]

There is alot of hype about gear. I've heard guys play through old Peavey Bandits and they sounded like pure tonal bliss. That's not to say buy the cheapest gear possible, but to me it shows that the gear is a smaller part of the tonal equation than alot of people believe.

Guys like Hendrix, BB King, and many other of the older rockers and bluesmen played through whatever was available at the time, and to this day, their tones are still the best.

I'm with you 100%. Except I think that way about guitars. I can't believe people shell out thousands for electric guitars, when it's really like 60% about what pickup you use and 35% how well it's set up and maintained and only maybe 5% comes from woods and whatnot. No magic there.

But, amps too. Ultimately it's all in the fingers. I do think one can sound great on any old junker, but still, if you're really after great tones, it's the amp more than the guitar. I mean, while you can get a superb tone out of a 10W Peavey Rage for some purpose, in real life/gigs/volume/whateverwise, you need a proper amp. A good amph is a good amph, no question about it. Not the tone alone, but it's the main tool for guitarist, IMO. Or not even an amp, maybe a software program can suffice and be great.

I'd rather have a real nice amp and a 200-buck cheapo guitar than vice versa, if I can spend some time to work on the guitar.

[gndboy]

I agree, it's under the fingers of the player. That said, I've heard astonishing sounds from some junk whether in a smokey funk club or a hall, or a studio. I think the good players have a sense of the situation, and if lucky, have some competent band mates who also have the same sense of situation. In this regard, it's undeniable the amp is an instrument (as though that needs be mentioned here). It's great searching for better tone, but nothing counts more than the situation and the other musicians. At least for me. It's the ensemble.

[marnold***]

Marnold, I recently played a Blackstar HT-5 head and 10-inch cab. I think that you and I have similar tone tastes for thick n' rich rockin' overdrive.

With that in mind, DON'T try a Blackstar unless you go in with a heavy wallet!

If Blackstar hadn't cranked up the prices on the HT-5s, I probably would have one of those instead of the Jet City. I played it and liked what I heard a lot. Now that I've had the Jet City awhile, it's clearly all's well that ends well. I think I like the little extra oomph a 12" speaker gives too.

[gndboy]

I've had it with getting decent tubes. The ART TubePAC actually has a tube in the audio path that won't bust your bank account. There are several very reasonably-priced MOS-FET jobs out there that sing even better with the TubePAC. I have no interest in ART. Try it.